Pinnacle Acting Company Presents "The Seagull" by Chekhov
Celebrating its second year, Pinnacle Acting Company is pleased to announce its second production for the 2008 theatre season, "The Seagull", by Anton Chekhov, in a translation by Jean-Claude Van Itallie, running April 17-19 & 24-26, 2008.
The play will be performing at The Midvale Performing Arts Center, located at 695 W Center Street (7720 S), Midvale. Performances will be Thursdays & Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 2:00 & 7:30 p.m.
"The Seagull" may be Chekhov's most personal play. It is about writing and writers, the theatre, sons, mothers and lovers. Treplyev is a young playwright who is so sensitive and artistically uncompromising he can hardly write a word. Trigorin is middleaged, a famous and prolific novelist afraid he has lost touch with a certain passion. The principle story is that of Nina, beloved of Treplyev, seduced by his mother's lover, Trigorin. Nina, however wounded, is the most hope-filled character in the play. Surviving the loss of her illusions, she prepares to travel by third class rail to the dismal town of Yelets where, despite all, she will act in a play. Secondary threads include Masha's hopeless love for Treplyev, and her mother's long-secret affair with Dorn.
But plot in Chekhov serves merely as bedrock for a succession of intimate moments. This play, set by a "magic lake", has some of the qualities of a dream. If it were a melodrama, we might learn that Dorn is really Masha's father, and that Dorn has always been in love with Arkadina. In "The Seagull" such suspicions remain mysterious underpinnings. What is the symbolism of the seagull? Is the seagull Nina shot down by Trigorin? Treplyev suffocated by his mother? Treplyev himself? All are possibilities.
The cast includes Andra Harbold, Arkadina; Jared Larkin, Treplyev; Bus Riley, Sorin; Morgan Long, Nina; Don Leavitt, Shamrayev; Shawnda Moss, Paulina; Melanie Rees, Masha; Rob Luckau, Trigorin; Ron Jewett, Dorn; Bo Brady, Medvedenko; Joshua Leger, Yakov; Beth Bruner, Cook; Sahara Hayes, Maid. The play is directed by Melanie Nelson.
Pinnacle Acting Company's production of "The Seagull" runs April 17-19 & 24-26, 2008 at The Midvale Performing Arts Center, located at 695 W Center Street (7720 S), Midvale, with performances scheduled on Thursdays & Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 2:00 & 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance when ordered on-line at www.pinnacleactingcompany.com, or $12 at the door. Current student ID's receive our 2 for 1 special.
